- FADE IN:
- INT. STUDY - EVENING
- MATT sits at his desk, his head buried in his hands as soft blue light from his laptop washes over his hair.
- He pounds his head against the desk slowly.
- MAYA, a tiny woman several inches tall peeks out from behind the computer.
- She walks gingerly forward, her skirt brushing the desktop, tiny piercings flashing in the blue light.
- When she reaches Matt, she grabs his sleeve, tugging on it.
- He pulls his face from his hands and looks around.
- MAYA
- Here, right here.
- Matt looks down.
- He pushes his chair back with a start.
- He stares.
- MAYA
- What's wrong?
- MATT
- Who are you?
- MAYA
- I'm Maya.
- MATT
- Maya?
- MAYA
- Maya, from your script...you know, you wrote it 3 weeks, five days ago? You threw me out of a window?
- MATT
- Whaaa?
- MAYA
- You created me.
- MATT
- I, uh, well...then you're the problem.
- MAYA
- What do you mean?
- Before Matt can answer, a movement catches his eye.
- ADRIANA, EMILY, and ARIA peer out from behind the computer screen.
- MATT
- Wait, how many of you are there?
- MAYA
- We're all here.
- MATT
- All?
- Maya whistles softly, commandingly.
- MAYA
- All.
- The desk drawers slowly open and Matt looks down.
- They are full of tiny people staring back at him.
- He slams the drawers shut.
- MATT
- You're the problem. All of you.
- The three other small women peer nervously at Matt.
- MAYA
- Hey!
- MATT
- Well you are, you're all little clones of each other.
- MAYA
- We're not anything like each other. We don't even look alike.
- MATT
- It doesn't matter what you look like, you're all tea-sipping, tattooed, pierced, a bit bourgsie...and you may seem deep, but there's not much substance really. There's also a good chance you're female and a barista at cool hippy cafe.
- MAYA
- Hey! Wow...that's not fair; and well, if it is true, isn't that a reflection on you not us? You created us.
- She begins to walk away.
- MATT
- I just can't stop making you. I keep wanting to make you, and I may change a detail here or there, but I keep creating you. And you never grow.
- He points to the other three women on the desk.
- MATT
- There, Adriana, you must be Adriana. You're madly in love with a boy who'll never see you. Emily, you're an amazing mandolin player on the run from your abusive husband. Aria, you're an angel stuck in a strange parallel universe, damned to preach to those without ears to hear your warning. So the details are different; but you're still the same person. Strong but scarred women who happen to share my interests. I keep writing me. You're all addled little me's. No character growth, no arc, just the same over and over and over. A me I can fall in love with. Isn't that a little sick?
- MAYA
- Addled? Addled children of an addled father, Daddy.
- MATT
- Don't call me that.
- MAYA
- What should I call you?
- Matt scowls.
- MAYA
- Look.
- She holds up her arm, it is semi-transparent.
- MAYA
- I'm not done yet. You have to finish me; you have to finish us.
- Matt just shakes his head and reaches into his pocket and pulls out a lighter.
- MATT
- Starting over.
- Maya stares as he opens the drawer.
- His creations stare up at him.
- He flicks on the lighter and lowers it into the drawer as they scatter.
- He pulls the flame across the crowd of small people and they begin to burn.
- He grabs the Adriana, Emily, and Aria and tossing them screaming into the drawer.
- The desk begins to burn.
- He feels something on his back and brushes his shirt, distracted, then turns to Maya.
- She stands watching him.
- They stare at each other.
- He nods then flicks the lighter one more time and sets her on fire.
- She closes her eyes and crumples to her knees.
- Matt slaps at his back again, feeling something, then his hands touch flame and he jerks it away.
- His back is awash in flame.
- It wraps around his knees and begins to crawl up towards his chest and face.
- He drops to the ground rolling and kicking, but now he, the desk, and Maya are completely engulfed.
- He screams and slaps at the fire.
- MATT
- Why?
- Maya looks at him from her melting face.
- MAYA
- Daddy.
- He collapses.
- Flame wraps races along the carpet now and begins climbing the walls, making the room an inferno.
- FADE TO BLACK.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
164. Daddy - Leslie
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment